WHAT IS PUNK?
I've seen many people debate what punk rock is. Some with more sucess than others. Some with hidden agendas or preferences for a particular band or sound. The accusation of "sell out" gets banded about quite a bit, without being clearly defined. Talking to a French magazine editor about the Clash in an interview I did. He questioned wether they went commercial and behaved like rock stars. Which I guess was the nice way to hint that they were a sell out
"I think the fame and money was coincidental to the fact that the Clash as individuals were artists. Even when they were famous they still had time for their fans - they were accessible, unlike the pop stars who had come before them!"
Steve Goodman
Today the American punk bands and ska bands are facing the same quandry, as they become bigger, there are questions raised about keeping true to their roots and still representing the streets and its kids. Personally I don't have a problem with people making money out of music, if it is a side product of being good at what they do. That's their choosen job why shouldn't they get paid? I guess Punk Rock is an atittude rather than a clearly defined musical system. As long as the money doesn't lead to denouncing your origins and acting like a snob or the elite, the pathos is still alive within the artists.
To trace the origins of this atittude you need to return to the core time, which was 1976 in England. There was a militancy about the youth of that era (myself included). We were kicking back at a system that supressed us. ignored our needs and antogonised us. The Sounds of punk were broader in the late seventies than they are today. It was everything from the R&B/Reggae of Ian Dury to the Pop of the rezillos and the rock of Chris Spedding and the other outfit the Ram Jam band. Uniting these factions was atittude pure and simple. It was the glue that defined the genre.
Today's scene has the added bonus of having people that are in it for life, rather than as a passing phase. Lets not forget though what came after the Punk Rock explosion. New Wave was the fallout that gave way to 2-tone and ska. Without the progression of teenage fashion for the want of a better word, there be no modern ska scene which shares a favourability with the modern punk scene.
So people can carry on trying to define or denounce - personally I don't give a shit! I still listen to The Clash today along with Rancid, Deadline, Nofx, Agonostic Front, etc etc.
See my Personal favourites for a flavour of what I am into and why!
Steve G